A wise person accompanies and welcomes all that happens,
both that which is arising and that which is dying…
This is why his joy is unconditional.
Fung Yu-Lan, Chinese Philosopher, 1895 – 1990
Tag: Be fully present
Here, now, amounts to so much
The trees in the garden have finally shed their leaves. We have had a long autumn here in Ireland but it finally begins to make way for winter. There is a certain sadness in seeing the yellow leaves and yet a beauty in the bareness of the branches. Two aspects of a life – it moves on and yet is fully here:
Why… Have a yearning for destiny?
…because being here amounts to so much, because all
this Here and Now, so fleeting, seems to require us and strangely
concerns us. Us the most fleeting of all….
Having been once on earth – can it ever be canceled?
Rainer Maria Rilke, The Ninth Duino Elegy
The opening of eyes
The fields this year in Ireland are full of Pheasants, with their beautiful colours, which ground us in the vibrancy of the here and now, and save us from our common mistake of thinking that life can be found elsewhere.
Life is no passing memory of what has been
nor the remaining pages in a great book
waiting to be read.
It is the opening of eyes long closed…
It is Moses in the desert
fallen to his knees before the lit bush.
It is the man throwing away his shoes
as if to enter heaven
and finding himself astonished,
opened at last,
fallen in love with solid ground.
David Whyte, The Opening of Eyes
photo Debbie Turner
Simply noticing
A life of joy is not in seeking happiness,
but in experiencing and simply being with the circumstances of our life as they are.
Charlotte Joko Beck
The extraordinary is waiting
The further I wake into this life, the more I realize that Love is everywhere and the extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary. Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond, and music is in both the flowing violin and the water dripping from the drainage pipe. Yes, Love is under the porch as well as on the top of the mountain, and joy is both in the front row and in the bleachers, if we are willing to be where we are.
Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening
Something more important
Speed gives life a frantic quality. It is an anxious state of mind that keeps us from settling into whatever we are doing. There is always something more important than what we’re doing now. We’re double-parked outside a store, trying to find what we need, while talking to our mother on the cell-phone. Rather than accomplishing our activity well, we are nullifying it, because we aren’t really there for it. That self-generated speed creates its own power and momentum, which begin to rule us. It’s a form of small-mindedness that blinds us to what life really offers — the opportunity to develop wisdom and compassion.
Wisdom tells us that we are meant to enjoy our life and use it in a meaningful way. A successful life is not determined by the speed with which we live. If we’re always flapping our wings, endlessly trying to get what we need with aggression, we will always be exhausted. We’ll never find what we’re really looking for, which is our own contentment.
Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
photo Katy Warner
